India's Saina Nehwal loses World No. 1 rank

New Delhi, Oct 22: Early exits at Japan Open and Denmark Open proved costly for ace India shuttler Saina Nehwal as she today lost her World No. 1 crown to All England and World champion Carolina Marin of Spain.

In the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) ranking list released today, Saina dropped to No.2 spot in women's singles with 81782 points, 1630 points behind Marin, who reached the semifinals at Odense last week.

After her World Championship final loss to Marin, Saina made second round exits in the next two tournaments - Japan and Denmark - following her straight game defeats against Japan's Minatsu Mitani.

Two-time World Championship bronze medallist PV Sindhu, who reached her maiden Super Series final at Denmark Open, remained static at World No.13. In men's singles, Kidambi Srikanth, Parupalli Kashyap and H S Prannoy slipped down the rankings chart.

While Srikanth lost a spot to be sixth, Commonwealth Games champion Kashyap slumped to No.10 from No. 8.

Indonesia Masters winner Prannoy, who defeated two-time Olympic and five-time World Champion Lin Dan of China in the first round of French Open in Paris yesterday, lost a position to be No. 17 but Ajay Jayaram climbed a place to be ranked World No. 25.

In men's doubles, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, who reached the finals of Dutch Open Grand Prix, rose to No.19, while Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa slipped a place to be at No. 13 in women's doubles.

PTI